Slogans Are Marketing Poison

(By Gil Gerretsen) In the pursuit of brand recognition, companies often obsess over the perfect sequence of words to define their existence. We call these slogans or tag lines. They are designed to be catchy, rhythmic, and memorable. However, in a modern marketplace saturated with noise, the traditional slogan or tag line has become a liability rather than an asset. It is time for businesses to stop writing slogans and start defining their purpose.

Executive Summary: The Mindshare Gap

The fundamental problem with business slogans is that they prioritize cleverness over clarity. While a slogan seeks to entertain or stick in the mind, it rarely informs the consumer of the specific value provided. Slogans are a relic of one-way broadcast advertising. To succeed today, brands must replace these vanity metrics with a "Mental Postcard" that creates a "wish you were here" frame of mind which focuses on the transformation the customer experiences.

Background: Why Slogans and Tag Lines Persist

Slogans and tag lines gained prominence during the golden age of television and radio when repetition was the primary driver of brand equity. The goal was simple: occupy a small corner of the consumer’s brain through jingles and short phrases.

Companies continue to invest in slogans and tag lines because they feel like a milestone of professional branding. It is easier to hire an agency to write three words than it is to fundamentally align an organization around a specific value proposition. Consequently, most slogans and tag lines end up as "corporate wallpaper" that consumers ignore.

Analysis: The Friction of Ambiguity

When a business uses a slogan or tag line, it creates several points of friction:

1) Lack of Differentiation: Abstract slogans are interchangeable. If your slogan could apply to a competitor or an entirely different industry, it has zero market value.

2) The AI Discovery Hurdle: Artificial intelligence tools and search engines prioritize relevance and intent. A slogan provides no data regarding what you do, who you serve, or the problem you solve.

3) Consumer Skepticism: Modern buyers are wary of marketing fluff. A catchy phrase often signals that a brand is hiding a lack of substance behind a polished exterior.

Recommendations: Pivot to the Mental Postcard

Every business has a signature. It's the visual image your customers and prospects form in their brain when they think of your business. It is much like a travel postcard. On one side is a picture which may be beautiful, desirable, funny, or even silly. On the other side is a short written note from the sender about the picture.

In like manner, your business signature needs to be like one of those postcards. You must share a quick, easy-to-understand, message about what you stand for. It is the mechanism through which your business identifies itself to the target audience and establishes its uniqueness.

I call this marketing element a “Mental Postcard.” Every business has one. However, most are not crafted by the business but rather thrust onto the business by the marketplace. That’s not what you want to happen. Since the Mental Postcard is how people remember and tell other about your business, it is vital that you take the initiative and carefully define your Mental Postcard. You must take control.

What does a Mental Postcard look like? It is a very short statement that creates a VISUAL image or picture about your identity and the primary advantage or compelling claim you offer to your customers. How do your get started getting it right?

1) Visualize Your Brand Promise: This is a functional statement that outlines the specific outcome a customer can expect.

2) Prioritize Clarity Over Catchy: If your customer has to think for more than three seconds to understand what you do, you have failed.

3) Focus on the "After" State: Don’t describe your process. Describe the world the customer enters after using your product.

4) Use Concrete Language: Replace adjectives like "best" or "quality" with nouns and verbs that describe your unique mechanism for success.

Try to find a positive picture or image that represents what your business, product or service is all about. Your Mental Postcard must be clear and precise. You must get the message across in an instant. I often suggest folks think about what they might draw for someone who did not understand their language.

And ideally, you should be able to prove your claim. It should be measurable. Fuzzy credibility or authority is to be avoided. For example, many businesses build the word "quality" or "service" into their message. But what does that really mean? What one person defines as "quality" may be totally unacceptable to another. This results in fuzzy expectations and ultimately, loss of your credibility.

Next Steps / Implementation: The Storytelling

How do you create a Mental Postcard? Start by asking yourself the following questions:

1) The Difference. What difference does your business, product or service make in the lives of your customers?

2) The Options. What would your customers do if you went out of business tomorrow?

3) The Competitors. Who are your key competitors and what do they offer that you don't?

4) The Offsets. What steps do you take to offset their advantage? Are those steps working? If yes, why? If not, what needs to be changed?

5) The Weaknesses. What is your competitor's biggest failing and how can you specifically fill that void?

6) The Temptation. Which mental image doesn't tempt you to come up with a new slogan with each new advertising or marketing campaign?

7) The Time Limit. If you had five seconds to sell your product or service, what would you say?

Once you have answered these questions, you can begin the process of developing your Mental Postcard. While you are doing so, never lose sight of the fact that people remember things in terms of pictures or images. Only then do they attach words to those images. If you can’t draw the idea, you won’t have a clear idea.

Finally, remember a critical fact of business life. Once you have created a Mental Postcard that you are happy with, and that tests well, stick with it. You will get tired of it long before your audience does. In fact, you will probably get so tired of hearing it that you will be tempted to change it, just to have something different. Don’t do it!

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